The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-06-19
PERILOUS CHASE In AFRICA
An Adventure That Befel One of the
Party Accompanying Bishop Taylor.
Dangling from Swaying Tree. with a Fall
Of Thousand Feet in Prospect-A Stu
alton Calling for Muscle and Brains.
written for the Sunday Journal

ST. PAUL DE LoASDA, Angola. Africa March
17--Bshop Taylor and lIessrs Teter and Burr
arrived at Leopoldville at the southwestern
corner of Stanley Pool, without meeting delay
or serious incident after leaving Lukunga Leo
poldville is a small settlement planted by Stan
ley and named by him for his patron. the King
of Belgium. Some English Baptist missionaries
are located there. among them being the Rev.
George Grenfel, who has become famous for his
extended explorations in the Congo basin. Mr..
Grenfel has charge Of q small steamer, and after
waiting few days Mt Leopoldviile the Bishop
was taken on board and carried mp the pool
twenty miles to Kimpoko. This formerly
the government station, and the missionaries
were installed in the building left vacant by the
officials. 1t is healthy locality. commanding
a magnificent view of the pool, neighboring hills
and distant mountains Pending the arrival of
his other missionaries the Bishop and his com
panions did the same kind Of work at Kimpoko
that he had done elsewhere. They re-
paired their house, tore mp the ground
with long steel hoes, planted various
kinds Of vegetables, and established a school
without waiting to get settled But more than
this, and more than he had done before was the
construction Of a canal, which the Bishop usual
ly refers as ditch" Not far from the house
occupied by him at the pool is a small river that
comes down from the mountains and empties
into the pool. 1t is thirty feet wide where it
passes through the mission farm. The soil of
the farm is not so rich as in other places where
the Bishop had planted stations, and it was clear
to him. as n practical farmer, that irrigation
would moro than double its value. So he and
his companions dug ditch" by which water
from the river is carried all over their banana
orchard. p;antain field and the rest of the arabic
land. The channel thus made had to be cut
eight inches deep in the shallowest portions and
upwards Of six feet in the deepest Its total
length is $50 feet; and the Bishop proposes that
this year IL be enlarged and heightened to
make n part Of it into "a iii--ace with fall
twenty feet IL need hardly be said that moth
ing like Bishop Taylor has been seen before this
in Central Africa.
Day after daytime Bishop waited and worked
on, looking for his friends whom ne expected to
arrive within two weeks after him. A month
passed by. when one of the missionaries
seen tratnping YEARLY about the Kimpoko fields
with native guide. The Bishop up to him
and found that he was Lyman b. Walker. He
mad come thus far with Mr. Grant Cameron,
md the others were somewhere route, with
the exception of one, who had died on the way
They had the utmost difficulty in traversing the
route followed by the Bishop, meeting with
merous adventures. delays and accidents. Car
nvans had been attacked by robbers, the car
riers had deserted theul some of the people had
fallen sick, and things went discouraginely gem
orally. Cameron had remained by the dock at
through the fields to find the Bishop. The
Bishop, however, cheered up his foot
sore comrades. set them to work with
his long hoes, impressed them into 4
ditch digging, and together they entered
upon another season of waiting. month and
n half more passed and the time was full of per-
pexities and trouble for the Bishop He could
get no word whatsoever of his absent colleagues,
he could not construct his schooner because the
materials m, were still on the way, and, worst Of
niar with the Kassia and it's tributaries that
the interior rivers though navigable were alto
Gether too crooked to make sailing practicable
Nothing would do but steamboat. There were
only two little steamers the upper Congo,
one Grenfel's boat, the peace" and no way of
using them for love or money, the Bishop had
learned IN Belgium, when he vainly underworld
to gain from the government a passage on his
boat for one man only. The Bishop was sadly
troubled, and moss men in his situation would
have been inclined to give up the Kassia scheme
But not Bishop Taylor. If q steamboat were
necessary. why, nothing simpler-he would get
n steamboat Simple en- ough solution of the prob
leLn. steamboat such he needed would
Gully $50, 600 to build in England and trans
port in sections to the pool Twenty thousand dol
1ars and a years time. Well the Bishop de-
termlned TO get it But ne must wait until he
had settled his people in comparative comfort
and safety before he could leave them, and |
meantime several of them seemed to be lost.
They came at last But while waiting for them |
the Bishop had and accepted opportunity TO
display another side of his varied and energetic
character. famine set in at the other end of |
the pool No cassaya was to be had. Cassava |
Is,
food. The government employees at Leopold |
vile could not bs fed the nearest market for |
supplies being Bona, hundreds of miles dis
tant by overland journey. Accordingly most of |
them had been discharged, the force being cut |
down from several hundred TO less than fifty. |
The Baptists were removing from Leopoldville,
which is exceedingly unhealthy, to kinshassa. a
town on higher ground a few miles fur
Their eass. Mr.. Grenfel had two three hun
dred natives in his employ building docks and
houses and he found himself unable
to supply them with food. So he
sent up to Kimpoko for ''ouaneasr of
cassava A ''quaneap is a fve-pound loaf of
bread. The famine did affect the
kimpoko region and csssava could be produced
in great quantities. Moreover it was the center
TO which interior traders brought their produce
for sale, and it was from them that Mr. Grenfel
expected to obtain his supplies. But the Bishop
called one or two of his associates from the fold
and set them up in the business of procuring |
quanga from the native makers to compete with |
the traders of the interior. He was able by the |
saving of freiehtage to sell it to the Baptists at
o low price, and consequently had substantially
N monopoly of the business. The peace" came
up regularly for loads of the Bishops cassava
bread, and the business aourished. One by one
the other missionaries appeared, and the Bishop
last left them to go down to the coast again and
Engand for the purpose of getting steamboat
He travelled with only a native guide for a COM
panion. The 235 miles from LeopoldvilIe to the
head of navigation of the Congo he made in
twelve days This is six days better than it was
ev.r done by white man before, and Bishop
Taylor is sixty five years old.
When the Bishop had started from Matadi
for Stanley Pool with Messrs. Burr and Teter,
the people left behind occupied themselves
mainly in getting acclirnated. Hardly OF
them escaped touch Of the African fever as the
result Of some indiscretion in the way of
exertion The temptation to find out something
about the new and stran &c land they had
to was irresistible for most of them. They l.
either took walks among the hills and along the
river banks, OF explored the town, studying the
habits OF the natives, went hunting. Among
those who took up the latter form of recreation
aud study was Mr.. Charles Peters. Early in the
morning of the sixth day after the Bishops de-
parture he set out with his gun for the hills to
the southeast of the village. Up to that time
Il comparatively cool and the air bracirg,
lud he progressed ut rapid pace until he was
several miles from camp. He saw many ami
mails of various kinds, but forebore to shoot for
he mere sake of killing. He wanted TO find q
rare or q rabbit two to bring home for the
.ook 10 servo at dinner He had incurred of